Prologue
Hello once again. I have come back to AAR to attempt my second Megacampaign on this forum. After having spent some time getting the content and screenshots for this I believe I am ready to make my second attempt.
Second attempt? What happened to your Welsh campaign?
Quite a few problems happened with that. An update broke the save so I tried to get it converted to EU4 to continue it. Someone was very helpful in helping me fix stuff so that it could actually be converted, but when I went to play it and continue the story it just kept crashing. I couldn't figure out the issue so I had to sadly scrap it and try it again.
What are you doing this time?
I thought about what I wanted to do for a good, long while. A Roman campaign sounded fun, but if my plans for it got as far as Vic 2 and HOI4 I would need a small team to help me mod it. An Andalusian game sounded fun, but I haven't tried it yet. And I got pretty far in a Russian game before realizing that there was already a Russian Megacampaign going on. So I eventually decided to play Erik the Heathen in the 1066 start.
Erik the who?
In real life we only have one source on Erik the Heathen and that is from Adam of Bremen, a German Medieval Chronicler. According to Adam, Erik was the son of King Stenkil and he had a brother confusingly also named Erik, who was a Christian. When Stenkil died, the two brothers fought each other for the Swedish throne in 1066-1067 in a war that was very bloody and led to both of them being killed along with many of the nobles of the kingdom.
So what's your goal with this?
To return Scandinavia to the Norse gods and at least form Scandinavia. Past that, I want to play a colonial game and form a great Norse Scandinavian Empire.
To start off with this campaign, I wanted to follow the story of the two Eriks as closely as possible. Erik the Heathen's start is known to be one of the harder starts so I had to do some behind the scene stuff to follow it as the Heathen starts as a vassal of Sweden. Besides that, I will absolutely refrain from trying to do anymore behind the scene stuff in the future.
With all of that out of the way, let's begin the story.
The first brother was Erik the III or as he's more famously known by: Erik the Heathen. The Duke of Uppland, he was an unabashed pagan, a worshiper of Asatru, the native pagan faith of Scandinavia. Their gods had once been worshiped across the region before then, but Catholic missionaries from the south had been increasingly moving north, converting the people away from the old gods. By this point only a small minority of people, mostly in isolated rural areas, spoke of the old gods. The region of Uppland was one of these regions.
The second brother was also named Erik, Erik the II, or more famously Erik Stenkilsson. Unlike his brother, Erik Stenkilsson was a devout Catholic like their father was. Unlike his brother though, he was the King of Sweden, having been elected by the other nobles of the kingdom. The two were obviously at odds with each other considering their differing faiths.
Their father was King Stenkil, a devout Catholic as well who had helped in turning Sweden towards Christ. Despite his worship of Christ, Stenkil was very accommodating to the remaining Asatru pagans in Sweden, allowing them religious freedoms and even positions in government. Erik Stenkilsson didn't share his father's views on the Asatru though. As soon as he came to throne he began to remove all the privileges that the Asatru had under his father, intent on making the pagans in his realm second class citizens in their own lands unless they turned to Christ. Erik the Heathen wouldn't be spared this.
As Erik Stenkilsson was preparing to make these new laws Erik the Heathen forcefully barged into the court, angry at his brother for these new laws and demanding to know why he was doing this. Erik Stenkilsson just said that he was doing this for God and instead demanded Erik the Heathen give up his position as the Duke of Uppland and that he had until tomorrow to make his decision or else he would be arrested.
Erik the Heathen stormed out of the court and galloped back to Sigtuna in Uppland. He gathered up his soldiers and declared war on his brother for the Swedish throne and to restore Asatru as the faith of Sweden.
Erik the Heathen marches his army south to Strigines to lay siege to the Swedish capital while Erik Stenkilsson leads his army north to lay Gestrikalandia under siege.
The war though quickly gets a lot bigger as Norway and Denmark joins on the side of Erik Stenkilsson, not wanting to see a Asatru take the throne of Sweden. The Swedish forces would abandon their siege to instead meet up with the Danes and while the Norwegians did join they wouldn't commit any forces to the war as Harald Hardrada was more interested in his invasion of England.
The combined Christian forces would return to the siege of Gestrikalandia. Meanwhile, Strigines would fall to Erik the Heathen's forces, capturing another brother of his in the siege.
After taking Strigines, Erik the Heathen would march his army north to relieve the siege at Gavle. He would meet a part of the Danish army in battle there expecting the rest to reinforce. The other armies don't however, and the other half of the Danish army instead marches further north away from the battle leaving their fellow Danes to die in a battle where only seven Danes escape the battle alive.
Erik the Heathen then marches to face his brother's forces at Henamorum. The Danes do reinforce the battle this time, though it doesn't change the tide of the battle and give another victory to the Heathen.
He then lays siege to Vastmannaland, allowing the Swedes and Danes to retreat. As he's laying siege though, Erik Stenkilsson returns to Strigines where he kills the garrison that had been left by Erik the Heathen. As soon as Erik is done with his siege he marches back south to face his brother in a second battle.
It would turn out to be the last battle of the war though. As Erik the Heathen is surveying the bodies of the battle with his guards they find Erik Stenkilsson among the bodies, wounded and pretending to be dead so that he could escape later. He wasn't lucky though and tries to beg for his life, even promising to become an Asatru. Erik the Heathen doesn't buy it though.
With the king captured he forces the Christians to recognize him as King of Sweden. As for Erik Stenkilsson, he was stripped of all of his titles until he was nothing more than a commoner. Forced to beg in the streets to the people that he tried to get rid of.
And just like that Erik the Heathen was now the King of Sweden. All that Norway and Denmark could do was look on as Erik the Heathen replaced the old Christian nobility with his Asatru knights and begin a rebirth of the Asatru faith.
Second attempt? What happened to your Welsh campaign?
Quite a few problems happened with that. An update broke the save so I tried to get it converted to EU4 to continue it. Someone was very helpful in helping me fix stuff so that it could actually be converted, but when I went to play it and continue the story it just kept crashing. I couldn't figure out the issue so I had to sadly scrap it and try it again.
What are you doing this time?
I thought about what I wanted to do for a good, long while. A Roman campaign sounded fun, but if my plans for it got as far as Vic 2 and HOI4 I would need a small team to help me mod it. An Andalusian game sounded fun, but I haven't tried it yet. And I got pretty far in a Russian game before realizing that there was already a Russian Megacampaign going on. So I eventually decided to play Erik the Heathen in the 1066 start.
Erik the who?
In real life we only have one source on Erik the Heathen and that is from Adam of Bremen, a German Medieval Chronicler. According to Adam, Erik was the son of King Stenkil and he had a brother confusingly also named Erik, who was a Christian. When Stenkil died, the two brothers fought each other for the Swedish throne in 1066-1067 in a war that was very bloody and led to both of them being killed along with many of the nobles of the kingdom.
So what's your goal with this?
To return Scandinavia to the Norse gods and at least form Scandinavia. Past that, I want to play a colonial game and form a great Norse Scandinavian Empire.
To start off with this campaign, I wanted to follow the story of the two Eriks as closely as possible. Erik the Heathen's start is known to be one of the harder starts so I had to do some behind the scene stuff to follow it as the Heathen starts as a vassal of Sweden. Besides that, I will absolutely refrain from trying to do anymore behind the scene stuff in the future.
With all of that out of the way, let's begin the story.
Prologue
The Saga of Erik and Erik
1066-1068
The Saga of Erik and Erik, one of the most famous, if not THE most famous saga to have survived to the modern era. It was found on a Runestone outside of Sigtuna where it was then recorded onto paper and passed out from generation to generation. The saga itself takes place in 1066 and tells the story of two brothers.The Saga of Erik and Erik
1066-1068
The first brother was Erik the III or as he's more famously known by: Erik the Heathen. The Duke of Uppland, he was an unabashed pagan, a worshiper of Asatru, the native pagan faith of Scandinavia. Their gods had once been worshiped across the region before then, but Catholic missionaries from the south had been increasingly moving north, converting the people away from the old gods. By this point only a small minority of people, mostly in isolated rural areas, spoke of the old gods. The region of Uppland was one of these regions.
The second brother was also named Erik, Erik the II, or more famously Erik Stenkilsson. Unlike his brother, Erik Stenkilsson was a devout Catholic like their father was. Unlike his brother though, he was the King of Sweden, having been elected by the other nobles of the kingdom. The two were obviously at odds with each other considering their differing faiths.
Their father was King Stenkil, a devout Catholic as well who had helped in turning Sweden towards Christ. Despite his worship of Christ, Stenkil was very accommodating to the remaining Asatru pagans in Sweden, allowing them religious freedoms and even positions in government. Erik Stenkilsson didn't share his father's views on the Asatru though. As soon as he came to throne he began to remove all the privileges that the Asatru had under his father, intent on making the pagans in his realm second class citizens in their own lands unless they turned to Christ. Erik the Heathen wouldn't be spared this.
As Erik Stenkilsson was preparing to make these new laws Erik the Heathen forcefully barged into the court, angry at his brother for these new laws and demanding to know why he was doing this. Erik Stenkilsson just said that he was doing this for God and instead demanded Erik the Heathen give up his position as the Duke of Uppland and that he had until tomorrow to make his decision or else he would be arrested.
Erik the Heathen stormed out of the court and galloped back to Sigtuna in Uppland. He gathered up his soldiers and declared war on his brother for the Swedish throne and to restore Asatru as the faith of Sweden.
Erik the Heathen marches his army south to Strigines to lay siege to the Swedish capital while Erik Stenkilsson leads his army north to lay Gestrikalandia under siege.
The war though quickly gets a lot bigger as Norway and Denmark joins on the side of Erik Stenkilsson, not wanting to see a Asatru take the throne of Sweden. The Swedish forces would abandon their siege to instead meet up with the Danes and while the Norwegians did join they wouldn't commit any forces to the war as Harald Hardrada was more interested in his invasion of England.
The combined Christian forces would return to the siege of Gestrikalandia. Meanwhile, Strigines would fall to Erik the Heathen's forces, capturing another brother of his in the siege.
After taking Strigines, Erik the Heathen would march his army north to relieve the siege at Gavle. He would meet a part of the Danish army in battle there expecting the rest to reinforce. The other armies don't however, and the other half of the Danish army instead marches further north away from the battle leaving their fellow Danes to die in a battle where only seven Danes escape the battle alive.
Erik the Heathen then marches to face his brother's forces at Henamorum. The Danes do reinforce the battle this time, though it doesn't change the tide of the battle and give another victory to the Heathen.
He then lays siege to Vastmannaland, allowing the Swedes and Danes to retreat. As he's laying siege though, Erik Stenkilsson returns to Strigines where he kills the garrison that had been left by Erik the Heathen. As soon as Erik is done with his siege he marches back south to face his brother in a second battle.
It would turn out to be the last battle of the war though. As Erik the Heathen is surveying the bodies of the battle with his guards they find Erik Stenkilsson among the bodies, wounded and pretending to be dead so that he could escape later. He wasn't lucky though and tries to beg for his life, even promising to become an Asatru. Erik the Heathen doesn't buy it though.
With the king captured he forces the Christians to recognize him as King of Sweden. As for Erik Stenkilsson, he was stripped of all of his titles until he was nothing more than a commoner. Forced to beg in the streets to the people that he tried to get rid of.
And just like that Erik the Heathen was now the King of Sweden. All that Norway and Denmark could do was look on as Erik the Heathen replaced the old Christian nobility with his Asatru knights and begin a rebirth of the Asatru faith.
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